


Like a Tidal Wave

by Amethystfairy1



Series: Soulmate Shots [8]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Kei doesn't even appear that's how small it is, M/M, Minor Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei, Mute Akaashi Keiji, Pre-Canon, like blink and you'll miss it, mute character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-01-09
Packaged: 2018-09-16 01:30:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9267662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amethystfairy1/pseuds/Amethystfairy1
Summary: Bokuto reminded Akaashi of a tidal wave. Crashing into his life, and banishing the silence that once wrapped around him like a chain. Sending him tumbling head over heels, and washing all hints of loneliness from his life.Akaashi was in every way the mark that covered Bokuto's skin, though at their first meeting, it wasn't that obvious, he had known ever since that he'd never leave his soul mates side.{In which Akaashi is mute, Bokuto is hyper and happy to be alive, Kuroo is the number 1 bro, Kenma can't do all nighters, and Tsukki doesn't even appear, yet he still manages to be a total asshole.}





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Manga_Otaku121344](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Manga_Otaku121344/gifts).



> This was a request from Manga_Otaku121344 for a BokuAka oneshot! I hope you enjoy it!

 

 ****Well then.

Bokuto has certainly not been expecting this.

Really, though, turning sixteen was supposed to be a wonderful. 

For the first part of the day, it really had been. Joyous occasion as it was, seeing as he’d be getting his soul words that night, Kuroo and Kenma had joined him for a birthday bash of a day spent at the arcade and then lunch.

It had been good fun, especially when Kenma had gotten the new high score in literally ever single game in the entire arcade while Bokuto and Kuroo had cheered him on. 

He’d told then to shut up a number of times, but as per usual they never listened.

Now here he was, Kenma having crashed on the couch, he and Kuroo were awake still. Bokuto had stayed up to see Kuroo’s soul words form. Kenma had as well. As such, they intended to return the favor for Bokuto, then most likely for Kenma in a year, even though he’d probably insist he hated them around and wanted to be alone.

Either way, here they were now, seated on Bokuto’s bed at exactly 11:56 PM.

“Bro, what do you think they’ll be like?” Kuroo asked, eyes glued to the whit haired boys left wrist.

“I dunno, bro, I just, I really hope that they’re nice because I know I can be a bit hard to get to know.” Bokuto replied, looking nervous as he studied the pale skin of his left wrist, watched the purple vein throb in tandem with his beating heart. 

Kuroo patted him on the shoulder, grinning his signature cat like way. 

“Bro, like, don’t even worry about it. If I can find a way to love whatever asshole is my soulmate, then you’re will be sure to be an angel.”

Bokuto nodded softly, because Kuroo’s soulmate really did seem to be a bit quick to judge. Then again, he might just have a scathing sense of humor.

_._

_._

_._

_It’s you? Oh god, kill me._

_._

_._

_._

Considering this, it probably meant they’d meet before Kuroo before they got their soul words. 

All this really confirmed was that Kuroo’s soul mate was most likely younger than him, but that didn’t really help with much, now did it?

Back to the current dilemma, though. 

While they were discussing Kuroo’s soul mate, they managed to pass the remaining three minutes.

Eyes widening, Bokuto let out a startled yelp as he watched a shimmering silver glitter burst underneath his skin, as if it had been waiting his entire life to reveal itself.

“Whoa...” Kuroo had watched his own soul words form into the honeyed golden hue that they now were, but watching this sparkling silver dart and shift beneath his friends wrist was astonishing in it’s own right.

The dust solidified one particle by one, the entire process taking maybe a little over a minute, until, finally, they were clear.

Bokuto blinked, confused. 

On his wrist was a messy blast of silver glitter, but under closer inspection, he realized it looked like a tidal wave, crashing against duller colored rocks.

“Bro.” Kuroo said seriously.

Knowing what he knew of soulmates, this could only mean one thing.

When you received an image instead of words, it was something to symbolize what your soul mate might have been to you. How it might have felt should you have come into contact with them.

“An image means that my soul mate will never speak to me.” Bokuto whispered.

Kuroo bit down hard on his lower lip. He wasn’t sure just how to approach this, but eventually, he just leaned forward and wrapped his lanky tanned arms around the owl headed boys shoulders, dragging him into a hug.

“It’s ok, man. I’m sure they were awesome, though, if you got a wave like that.”

It meant two things, at least within Bokuto’s head. 

A. His soulmate’s path and his would never cross, and they’d never meet each other.  

B. His soulmate is dead.

C. His soulmate would just flat out ignore him because they never wanted a soulmate.

All of these caused a pained ache in his hear that, since that day, never fully went away. 

Tears filled his gaze, while Kuroo held him tight. At that moment he was happy that the Nekoma student was there. 

He wasn’t sure if he’d have been able to deal with this alone.

**_One year later._ **

“Vice captain, yes!” Bokuto bounced happily out of the gym, grinning from ear to ear. 

He’d been elected to the position, and now was on his way home after the meeting of the returning team members. The next day they’d be evaluating the new first years, and he was enthused to meet the group of people that he’d be spending the most time with, other than his fellow second years. 

He’d talked to Kuroo earlier in the day, congratulating him on being elected to his own schools vice captain. He’d also learned that Kenma had been convinced to continue playing volleyball through high school. Kuroo was beyond excited to have his best friend toss to him for two years more. 

He arrived home and flopped instantly onto his couch after kicking off his shoes.

He raised his left arm up and looked at the tidal wave still crashing across his wrist. 

“I got elected vice captain today...I wonder if you liked volleyball.” He murmured. 

He’d taken to talking to the mark once in a while, he felt as thought if he did this, he was speaking to his soul mate.

He wondered if they could hear him, where ever it was they were.

Bokuto watched the shimmering silver on his arm for the longest time. If he stared long enough, it felt like the dust there was unstable, it was as though it could be reformed at any moment.

Perhaps paths could change? Perhaps something astronomical could happen that would throw his soulmate into a new life, causing them to be sent his way.

What Koutarou wouldn’t give for that to become a reality.

Still, he found he loved his mark. His soul mate, like a tidal wave, crashing into his life. He wanted to know how that felt. 

Shaking his head, he sat up off his couch.

After all, he had a lot of homework to do. 

And he had to be a good role model for his kouhai!

 

**_That same day._ **

Akaashi Keiji had always been very resigned on the topic of soul mates. He’d been born with his vocal cords damaged. Unable to do so much as wheeze, he never knew how it felt to have his chest vibrate with the sound of a voice. 

He could hear perfectly well, so it annoyed him when people would raise their voices when talking to him. Just because he couldn’t talk didn’t mean he was deaf. That was a totally different thing. 

Either way, when he first properly learned about soul mates, he was crushed.

The words on your wrist when you turned sixteen were that of the first words to leave your soul mates lips before you.

The first words your soul mate ever _said._

Naturally, this burdened Akaashi to no end, seeing as no matter what he did, he couldn’t change the fact that he couldn’t talk. Sign language was the best he could do, he also always carried around a white board in his backpack. 

Silently, which is how he did most things, he wished that his soul mate wouldn’t care. 

He wished he would have a soul mate as wild and carefree as could be, that would love him despite his lack of a voice, and would be able to talk enough for the two of them. 

_Even if that sounds a bit annoying, it would be nice, to have someone who could speak for me. That I could trust to speak for me._

When Akaashi started playing volleyball in elementary school, it was difficult for sure. Half the reason why he played setter was because he was unable to call for tosses or shout for movement on the court. 

Though he could listen to, decode, and follow through with such a messy splurge of communication.

He hadn’t been expecting much on his sixteen birthday, he pondered this as he gazed down at the words across his wrist.

_._

_._

_._

_Hi there! I’m the vice captain of the team! I hope we can play together soon!_

_._

_._

_._

Such a kind, simple message. It warmed Akaashi’s heart to think about being greeted in such a fashion, and for the very first time. 

He knew that if someone had a soul mate who would never speak to them, that they would get a picture or some sort of symbol instead. 

It made him feel a bit bad to imagine that his soul mate had, for however long they’d had their soul mark, thought he was dead, or that they’d never met.

Akaashi fully intended on making up for the lost time when he met them.

Which, as things were looking, could very well be the next day. He’d be joining his high schools volleyball team then, after all. 

_Then again, it could always be in college._

He gave himself this as an excuse for being let down as he went to bed with the intention of rising early, heading to the try outs for volleyball at his high school as a first year.

Hopefully no one would mind him carrying a white board into practice.

**_The next day._ **

When Akaashi arrived he was instantly called over by an older man, whom he assumed was the couch.

“You’re here for try outs? Bright and early, you make a good first impression. What’s your name?” He asked.

Akaashi uncapped his dry erase pen and wrote his name down, holding it up.

The couches brow instantly knit.

Trying his best not to look exasperated, he erased the board and scribbled down another message.

‘I apologize for the inconvenience, but I have damaged vocal cords and have never been able to speak. Effectively, I am mute. I hope this will not interfere with my being able to participate with the team.’

“Ah! Of course! That should be fine, no worries!” The couch nodded, and Akaashi released the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

He nodded and thanked the couch with another scribble on his white board before walking over to the nearby bench.

He was ten minutes early, so he’d have to wait for the others to arrive. The couch had warned him that no one on the team was exactly punctual, and he could expect a lot of idiots racing through the doors late very soon.

As he waited, he tapped the tip of his pen on his white board, feeling a bit of anxiety rising. 

It had been this way in middle school, as well. Whenever he tried to join a new group for a long period of time, or arrived into a new class or school, it was always awkward, getting people used to having to wait on him answering them via pen. 

On the bright side, he’d become more than adept at writing spectacularly fast, if this were any consolation.

As he waited, he glanced up to see an older boy, he assumed him to be an upperclassman member of the team, come skidding into the gym.

“Five minutes early! Hell yeah!”

“Bokuto, calm down.” The couch ordered firmly.

_He...reminds me of an owl? There is no way his hair is naturally like that, right? Please tell me it’s not._

Akaashi  thought, looking over the older in curiosity. 

If his eyes lingered a bit to long on his muscled biceps, then so sue him. The guy was hot. Realizing these were his thoughts, Akaashi  dropped his gaze down onto his whiteboard, already readying a message for when the excitable guy would surely come over to greet him.

Sure enough, those golden orbs soon had him in their sights, and Akaashi  felt his breath leave him. 

He looked so bright, just happy to be there in general, happy to be alive, that it made Akaashi  feel the need to work a little harder. 

Just to make being able to receive such a gaze worth it.

If his breath left him from the stare, then his heart stopped at the first words that left this boys mouth.

He came jogging over, grinning from ear to ear, and threw his hand up in a wave.

“Hi there! I’m the vice captain of the team! I hope we can play together soon!” 

His eyes flew wide open when he zeroed in on the hand that the boy had thrown up.

A shimmering silver soul mark, not words, covered his nearly his entire forearm in a glittering tattoo.

Hands shaking, Akaashi  struggled with writing a message. 

The grin faded slightly.

“Are you ok?” He asked, looking worried.

Finally, Akaashi  managed to erase his previous formal message and, with trembling fingers, wrote anew.

He held up the board and the golden eyed boy looked beyond confused.

That is, until he read the board itself, aloud at that.

“My name is Akaashi  Keiji. I’m sorry for making you wait with an empty mark. I am mute, and cannot speak. I think you are my soulmate.”  
He finished reading this before his eyes bugged comically large.

“Wait you think you’re _what_!?” He wailed.

Akaashi  stood up, revealing the fact that he was only slightly shorter than the older.

After hesitating a moment, he shyly offered his left wrist.

Koutarou leaned into him slightly, causing Keiji’s face to erupt with blush, and read the words.

The exact same words he’d just spoke moments ago.

The next few seconds were filled with Bokuto making very strange yelling noises and scrambling away from Keiji as quickly as he’d come close.

Akaashi  stared after him in confusion, until he came racing right back up and grabbed both of the setters hands in his own. His whiteboard and pen went clattering to the ground. 

“It’s you! You! You’re not dead!”

Keiji took on a very bitter expression.

_Glad you noticed._

He thought in annoyance.

“Well I’m Bokuto Koutarou! I’m so happy to meet you, I thought I’d never get too! This is the best day ever!” 

He looked absolutely ecstatic. 

Akaashi  felt a smile tugging at his lips over just how excited this overgrown child had gotten.

He felt that way to, he just didn’t feel the need to bounce all around in order to show it.

Instead he grasped Bokuto’s hands back just as tightly as his had been grabbed seconds ago, before letting go in order to collect his whiteboard and pen.

‘I really am happy to meet you. I was scared you would be angrier about my lack of voice.’

“Angry?” Bokuto scrunched up his face, scowling.

“Why on earth would I be angry at you for something you have no control over? If you could talk and just pretended you couldn’t because you didn’t want to talk to me, then I’d be angry! That’s not what you’re doing, right?”

The blanked out expression on Koutarou’s face made Akaashi  laugh, a smile blossoming across his face. Though, naturally, he produced no sound, just a gentle wheezing.

It was the most he could do.

He shook his head, then made an honest attempt at shouting. 

Yet again, all that escaped was a dull drawn out gasp.

Bokuto nodded twice. “Then of course I’m not mad! I’m so happy just to know you!” 

Akaashi  smiled and nodded again.

Someone this happy just at meeting him, without ever even knowing anything about him yet, couldn’t be that bad.

If anything, Akaashi  hoped that this burning sensation in his chest really did mean he was in love, and not that he was about to pass out due to lack of oxygen.

If it was this easy to forget about breathing while Koutarou was around, then this boy would become a serious threat to his health in more ways then one.

“Hey, hey, hey! So what position do you play?” Bokuto demanded this of him.

Akaashi scribbled the word ‘setter’ on his white board and held it up.

The owl headed second year whooped. 

“Come toss to me before the others get here then, come on Akaashi !” He tugged on the slightly shorter boys hand.

Akaashi nodded to show he was coming before setting his board down onto the bench and jogging out onto one of the courts behind Bokuto.

Within the next few minutes he found himself tossing for the wing spiker, who seemed to be ridiculously happy that he was able to sync with Keiji so easily.

Then, he seemed ridiculously happy about just about everything.

Though, the way he was smiling, eyes squinted shut when he turned to look at the younger to ask for another toss, it was impossible for Akaashi  to stop smiling too. 

Comparing himself to a tidal wave, the setter imagined, was incorrect. 

To him, Bokuto was the tidal wave that adorned his own arm. Constantly in the action, loud, powerful. Smashing and crashing into the mute boys life, filling it with sound that had once been occupied by his own silence. Sending him tumbling from his feet, head of heels into feelings he’d never thought he’d get the chance to experience. The white silver haired one was always was saying something, filling the silence in a way that Akaashi was incapable of. Not annoying, not ear grating. 

Well, at least not to Keiji, but then again, he was strongly biased. 

Being in love could do that too a person, though it would be years before he’d gather up the courage to write it down and hold it up for the world to see. 

That was ok, though. 

Koutarou loved him either way, and he was willing to wait.

**Author's Note:**

> Thats it! Please drop a comment for suggestions of other ships to add to the soulmate shots series! Thanks for reading!


End file.
